Tuesday 27th November 2007
Best known as a three-time Indianapolis 500 champion, Hélio Castroneves and his partner, professional ballroom dancer Julianne Hough, won the fifth season of “Dancing With the Stars.” The popular Indy Car driver won out over the runner-up pairing of former Spice Girl Mel B (“Scary Spice”) and her partner, dancer Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Following his victory, Castroneves returned to the Indycar racing circuit, but his good luck did not hold. Although he finished second overall in the 2008 season including a fourth in that year’s Indy 500, by 2009 the racer found himself in federal court, charged with conspiracy, fraud and income-tax evasion in a case where he was eventually acquitted. Castroneves came back to win the Indy 500 again in 2009.